Week 37 Hair

Want to know how to go from this

To this

In 10 seconds flat?

Well, wonder no more!

Introducing....

Janet Collection Afro Puff (Color 2)

CandidAnn, a youtuber that I love, hipped me to this afro puff after I saw her rocking it on her channel a few times. (She also has an awesome blog that you should check out as well). It is so realistic looking and SO EASY to put on! This is my first hair piece. So I needed something easy, and natural, for my first experience.

I doubt that I could even attempt to rock a wig. Plus, I'm not really into straight hair. This puff though was right up my alley. I kid you not on how realistic this thing is. My mother and siblings all thought it was my  hair! Seriously. I went to work and got compliments all day long. Of course, I didn't bother to tell my co-workers that it wasn't my hair.

What I do is I open it the widest I can get it and then just pin the ponytail on. Since I'm using it as another option for a protective style, I want it to cover as much of my hair as possible. I plan on wearing this all week to take a break from rocking twists.

As hair accessories go, I'm loving this one! I even purchased two more:

In May, I purchased two Goody Clips in black and brown but they are a bit small now to fit my twists in. I mentioned in this post that I like them more than ouchless bands because they never pull out my hair. This is a large one I purchased on Amazon. The headband is so cute! I have to get more of those. It jazzes up any style in 1 second or less.

Like I said, I will be rocking my afro puff this week and am excited about it. Underneath I have my hair twisted and pulled back into a bun. 

It is kind of awkward to place it on because my bun is big so I try to flatten it out as much as possible. With time I will become a master. Now I just need to figure out how to do flat twists! This is my favorite video explaining how to do them:

It's cute to have the flat twists in the front and the puff in the back. I know how to cornrow...other people's hair. When I have some time (and above all, PATIENCE) I will take a stab at practicing some more. For now I don't mind slicking the hair in the front and then just tying it down at night so I don't have to reapply everyday.

Other than that, I did a protein treatment and bought some other hair products since my staple ones are running low:

• Giovanni Direct Leave In Conditioner -- 3 bottles for $19 on Amazon
• Cantu Shea Butter -- I wanted to get my Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie but my local area Targets and Walgreens had run out. Then they wanted to charge me $22 on Amazon! So I bought the Cantu for $5. I've been wanting to try it anyway.
• More castor oil -- 32 oz bottle for $7 on Amazon
• Darcy's Botanicals Organic Coconut & Aloe Moisture Pudding -- I've heard good things about this brand of products so I decided to try it. I, currently, don't have any styling products and this serves that purpose. It's supposed to help braids, twists, and locs look fresher longer.

Week 38 Hair

Detangle with conditioner

Shampoo

Deep Condition

Kimmaytube leave in

Twists

Week 35 Hair

One of the styles I rocked last week. I have to buy more of these Goody clips because I love them! They are a lot better than rubber bands because they will never pull your hair out. I use ouchless bands but sometimes hair still escapes when I take it out. Not when I use these bands. 

I also need to get the larger sizes. When I first started my HHCJ the small size was perfect. Now my hair has grown some and it is a bit of a chore to get all my hair in it. That's why I typically use two of them. This style is essentially a bun but with Goody clips. This was on day 3 hair.

On Sunday I think I'm going back to twisting my hair while wet. I really like how versatile my hair is with dry twists because they are longer and don't get as frizzy. But I'm lazy. I have to prep my hair on Sunday (by twisting it), then take them down again the next day and twist again. It's most definitely not a time-saver.

This past Sunday I prepared my hair and then wore it in an updo because I had to go to work. (I didn't take pictures of it but I will try to recapture the style the next time I wash my hair.) I could have rocked that for a couple of days. Then when my hair started gettiing frizzy, retwist the perimeter. I wear my hair up anyway.

Plus I don't like having my hands in my hair so much. When I twist it wet I just leave it alone until it's time to take it down (moisturizing as needed of course). Or, like next week, I will retwist the perimeter as it gets frizzy.

My hair still feels and looks great though. It's incredibly moisturized and doing well. I have no complaints there. But it's almost time for my next length check and I want to baby it a bit more.

Week 36 Hair

 

Detangle with conditioner

Shampoo

Deep condition

Kimmaytube leave in

Twists